The present invention relates to a packaging for food, especially for individual pieces of chocolate or candy, comprising a product holder inserted into a bottom portion and a lid portion which seals the bottom portion containing the product holder.
Known packaging of the described kind, for example, candy boxes, consist of a bottom portion, which is open on one side and of a parallelepipedal shape, and a lid portion, which is open on one side, also of a parallelepipedal shape and seals the packaging by overlapping. The bottom portion contains a product holder, respectively a sectioned insert, which is equipped with pockets to hold the candies. The upper free rim of the bottom portion and the packaging level of the product holder are usually in one plane, or, when a padding material is provided, the packaging level of the product holder is below the lane enclosed by the rim of the bottom portion. Such a packaging gains its stability from the bottom and lid portion that overlap, while the product holder is loosely inserted. The product holder often consists of rather thin plastic foils while the individual pieces, for example, candy, are fairly heavy. When the packaging is stored on edge for an extended period of time, the individual pieces may exert deforming forces on the product holder via the pockets, in which they are contained, and may change the position of the product holder in relation to the lid and bottom portion of the packaging. In general, this may only be avoided by introducing inserts made from cardboard, carton, polystyrol etc. between the pockets and/or at the circumference of the product holder, thereby stiffening the product holder. However, this requires more packaging material in addition to the large amount that is already being used for the lid portion. Conventional packaging still has the disadvantage that a pointed impact onto the usually rectangular edges leaves a permanent deformation, which impairs the aesthetical appearance and reduces the value of such a sale unit. It is, of course, known, especially for candy boxes, how to protect the packaging against damage in several better ways, but there is invariably more material and processing involved, as, for example, in reinforcing the bottom and lid portions by additional elements, made from cardboard or carton, or, sometimes, by padding material. Also, the bottom and lid portion are composed of many individual elements and the assembly of the packaging is rather labor intensive.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the appearance of the abovementioned packaging by constructive measures and to maintain said appearance during transport and storage by absorbing impact in an elastic manner without deformation of the edges.